Few people can say they have covered the Raptors for the 20 years of their existence. Doug Smith is one of them. Join him for the latest from around the NBA, current events and anything else he decides to talk about.

Raptors have turned into a road revelation

Brutal start, impressive finish and it was one of those nights that kind of captures the essence of this team: It doesn’t give up and plays hard pretty much all the time regardless of circumstances.

And that’s not a bad thing.

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THREE POINTERS

Road warriors?

We all know about the disparity between East and West these days, right?

It may be closing just a little bit but there’s still quite a chasm between the two that makes this little stat about last night’s game kind of interesting.

With the win over the Pelicans – and I’m proud I didn’t once call them the Pellies because I think that’s silly – the Raptors finished the season 8-7 on the road against the West.

That’s not bad at all.

Dwane spent most of the first part of the season lauding his team for its focus on the road and the record would indicate he was right.

Here’s another in the Raptors vs. The West thing thanks to last night’s win: They are now 15-13 against the West (home games against OKC and Houston left) and will finish at .500 or better for the first time since 1999-2000.

That’s not bad, either.

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A good seat

This is why we miss sitting near the benches on the floor and why our readers someone lose something.

You know how I’m always defending the good officials because they’ll listen to reason and explain their calls if they approached in a professional manner?

Well, there’s a play in the first half, under the basket, and it sure looks like Tyler Hansbrough to pushed off or held or messed with by – I think it was – Steimsma and Dwane makes his point very expressively to Danny Crawford, who I consider one of the best officials in the game.

Crawford walks over to Dwane at the next whistle, they are discussing the player and Crawford’s saying something along the lines of: “Dwane, I know you’ll watch the tape; I’ll watch the tape and I promise you he wasn’t held. Watch it. I promise he wasn’t.”

It wasn’t contentious, it was argumentative, it was just a discussion about a play that shows, I think, that grown men can talk about things in the heat of game rationally.

And in about 25 arenas, I’d never be able to even mention that.

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One happy fellow

Everyone was pretty pleased after that one – well, Dwane wasn’t all that pleased with how it started – but nobody was more pumped post-game than Greivis Vasquez.

Dwane alluded to the fact he thinks guys have a bit of an edge facing their old teams, Vasquez proved that with this:

“They labelled me a starting point guard. They gave me a chance to showcase my game. So I do thank coach Monty Williams, his caoching staff and management for giving me an opportunity. But I was really angry when they traded me too. I know it’s part of the business so that makes it a little sour when you come back but you always want to beat your former team.”

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More? Yeah, there’s a bit, like usual.

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Happy First Day Of Spring!

Sure doesn’t feel like it, though. Heard it's gloomy back there.

No idea why spring made me think of this kind of hokey ditty but …

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I actually heard a guy on some call-in portion of Mike and Mike on ESPN this morning – I know a lot of you enjoy that show when you’re travelling down here – begins his conversation thusly:

“Happy March Madness”

Yeah, this whole tournament thing down here is so over-hyped it truly puts me off it a little bit.

I get that everyone has an alma mater that they care about but, man, is the tournament THE story of the day and has been for days.

I haven’t done a bracket, partially because I don’t have time, partially because I don’t need to hold myself up to more ridicule than usual and partially because I probably couldn’t name 32 of the teams.

No, I didn’t get to Café Du Monde yesterday but definitely plan to this afternoon because beignets are one of the regional staples that you need try as you wander around the league.

(And, yes, I know, small lumps of dough fried and covered in icing sugar isn’t granola and fruit but it’s a NOLA tradition)

Anyway, it got me thinking about the stuff you have to try if you travel around the NBA over the course of years, stuff you kind of look forward to when the trips pile up.

(And the trips pile up and since all you really want to do when you’re on them is get back close to loved ones, this really just makes them easier, not better)

So here are three that I try to get to every season:

Chicago deep dish pizza

As a pizza guy, if you don’t have a slice sometime in a season, you’ve cheated yourself. And if you can find a takeout joint that’s near the water and sit there lazily hanging out, it’s pretty good.

A NOLA beignet

As I may have mentioned, in no way are they close to good for you but, hey, it’s New Orleans! An Abita at night, a beignet in the morning and you’ve done it.

Speaking of things you can do in NOLA, stopped for a quick one next to the hotel after the game last night – no Bourbon Street for me, it’s too much too often – and you could get fresh air inside this place. What a city.

Milwaukee beer and cheese soup

I know, I know. My diet sucks but if it’s on the menu in the pressroom or in the restaurant the night before a game, you’ve go to go for it.

I’m sure there’s more but that’s a pretty good top three, I’d say.

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Don’t forget to get back here at noon Eastern time if you can so we can answer questions for an hour or so and if you can’t, please get over to
askdoug@thestar.ca
because there’s basically no mail for the weekend and we can’t have that.

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